The Part-Time Trader: Trading Stock as a Part-Time Venture, + Website

CHAPTER 8

Flying Below the Radar

Much of what this book revolves around is not becoming a distraction in the workplace and having others become suspicious of your daily activities as a part-time trader. Like the old adage of “minding your own business,” you truly have to do this as a part-time trader. First, you do not have time to partake in squabbles. I realized this early on, as my main objective was to eventually leave the company and become a full-time trader. Getting involved in office politics would only derail my mission.

■ Do Not Become a Distraction

When the boss man wanted me to do an assignment that I thought did not add value to the company, instead of starting some kind of e-mail war or dysfunction within the organization, I just went with it. I did not want to willingly create enemies because, in doing so, I would have a person who was determined to see my demise in the company. As a part-time trader, I was not going to let somebody I disagreed with try and find some dirt on me, exaggerate it (i.e., complain that I do not work but just trade stocks all day) and thereby wreck my dreams and ambitions, only because I originally felt the need to settle a score with him over a petty disagreement about company objectives.

It is important to guard yourself and your privacy. You could literally spend just one minute a day trading on the job, but if they knew you did that and were doing well at it, the assumptions would spiral out of control. Before long, you would be sitting ...